PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Oct 31

Oct 31 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified
these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Google Inc (GOOG.O: Cotización) is in advanced talks with two top
U.S. cellphone operators, Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon
Communications (VZ.N: Cotización) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Cotización), and
Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Cotización), about selling handsets tailored to
its new mobile-phone operating system, people familiar with the
matter said.

* While the prospect of an interest-rate cut by the Federal
Reserve may generate cheers in the stock market, it is causing
trouble for the weakening dollar and could spur investments in
other currencies.

* Merrill Lynch & Co MER.N Chief Executive Stan O'Neal
retired and will receive a $161.5 million exit package. The
board named director Alberto Cribiorea, longtime Wall Street
buyout executive, to lead a search for a successor among
internal and external candidates.

* Several leading oil experts, gathered for an annual
energy conference, sketched a near-term future in which
mounting global demand and shrinking supplies push oil prices
well past the $100-a-barrel mark.

* New York Senator Hillary Clinton's dominance of the
Democratic presidential field was on display at a televised
debate on Tuesday as she sloughed off pointed criticism from
rivals and aimed most of her fire at the Bush administration
and the Republicans who seek their party's nomination to
succeed him.

* Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey declined to say
if he considers an interrogation technique that simulates
drowning to be torture and therefore illegal, though he called
the procedure "repugnant." The response appears to fall short
of demands by prominent Democrats and Republicans.

* U.S. President George W. Bush assailed Democratic
lawmakers again on spending and children's health insurance
legislation, saying he will veto any attempt to combine annual
appropriations bills for veterans' care, education and the
Pentagon.
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